Exhibit offers look at UMass football history
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Change happens.
As the University of Massachusetts football team prepares for its next transformation - it joins the Mid-American Conference in 2012 - an exhibit on the university campus invites viewers to journey through the team's past.
From the early days, when UMass was called Massachusetts Agricultural College - fondly dubbed Mass Aggie - to the present, "Saturday's Rivals: Football Memories from the 'Aggie Eleven' of 1879 to the MAC of 2011," is a collection of program cover artwork, memorabilia, ticket stubs, photographs and histories that bring back to life the players, the teams, the coaches and many hallmark games.
"This exhibit is different from any other one that I have helped put together," said Anne Moore, a member of the art and exhibits committee at UMass that curated the exhibit. "Within my limited experience, this exhibit has a longer chronology, dating from 1879."
The display, Moore says, was put together using material from the archives of the UMass athletic department. Among the featured items are a poster-size image of a program from a Villanova vs. UMass game that took place on Oct. 7, 1961, that shows the excitement of a young boy and girl, dressed in 1960s-style garb - a plaid skirt and ankle socks for the girl, and a UMass football helmet for the boy - yanking on their father's arm. In the lower corner of the program: a picture of the Old Chapel, then, and now, an iconic UMass image.
"The artwork on the covers of the game programs are fun; especially the covers from the early '60s," Moore said. The homecoming program from 1965 Connecticut vs. UMass game, for example, shows a player with the number "42" imprinted on his shirt, his feet up in the With its artifacts, brochures, programs, black-and-white team photos and antique uniforms that help jog the memory, the exhibit offers a nostalgic trip through many of the changes the team underwent - starting in 1878, when the team, The Aggies, was formed with just 11 members, to the formation in 1947 of the Yankee Conference of which UMass was a charter member.
Over the next half century, until the formation in 1997 of the Atlantic 10 Football Conference, which UMass joined, the team won 17 league titles, which was more than any other conference member. In the 1990s the Yankee Conference was split in two, placing UMass in the New England Division. Beginning in 2012 the team will play in the Mid-American Conference.
The early years
One of the exhibit's display cases contains black-and-white sketches done by 1963 UMass grad, an educator and author of "Read-Aloud Handbook for Parents and Teachers." His sketches feature memorable UMass players, such as Greg Landry, who was quarterback from 1965-67 and was the first quarterback selected in the first round of the 1968 NFL draft after a successful career at UMass. Landry was selected for the All-Yankee Conference, for two out of three seasons during his time at UMass.
In addition, a section of the exhibit is devoted to Harold M. "Kid" Gore, the head coach of the UMass football team from 1919 to 1927 who compiled a 33#32#5 overall record. Included are a background of his life, photos of him and the teams he coached and his records.
"With the 150th anniversary of the UMass founding coming up in two years, I thought it was appropriate to chose information for the exhibit that had a focus on the early years," Moore said. "I am pleased with the results of the exhibit. I think people will enjoy the program covers, perhaps some will enjoy seeing the old shoes and the leather helmet."
"Saturday's Rivals" will be on view in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library through Jan. 3, 2012. A reception will be held Oct. 6 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For information, including exhibit hours, call 545-0162.
Additional photographs, histories and listings of final scores of games over the years may be viewed online at http://www.library.umass.edu/football-memories/.
